NASA spacecraft bombs moon in search of water India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A NASA spacecraft bombed the South Pole of the Moon on Friday in the hope of discovering water on the lunar surface. NASA''s "L-CROSS" mission involved the successful use of an unmanned rocket and a satellite. That satellite will soon transmit live TV images and scientific data back to Earth. The rocket slammed into a crater of the moon at 7:30 a.m. (EST). Scientists are hoping that this will cause a plume of rocks and dust and possibly ice to come flying off the moon. The mission has caught everyone’s imagination and in particular that of Marshall''s Physics Department Chair Nico Orsini. "We want to find out if there water, and how much of it," Orsini said. "So, this is all very exciting " The mission is being touted as the most expensive search for water, but members of the scientific community are unanimous in saying that it is worth it. "If you take one quart of water to the moon by spaceship, it costs 30,000 dollars. So, the best scenario would be to have water on the moon,” Orsini said.